Schismatic
Unwanted refugees on the planet Cybertron, the Visionaries must decide if they want peace or conquest! 'Synopsis' Deep in the planet of Cybertron lies New Prysmos. Created by the magician Merklynn while posing as a human ally of GI Joe, New Prysmos was created using the ancient artefact, the Talisman, which has transformed part of the planet into a recreation of Prysmos. The native Cybertronian population has put an energy barrier around the newly formed city, to keep the Prysmosian refugees in place. Kup and Ironhide enter to begin peace negotiations with the organic invaders. The Visionaries are already holding discussions amongst themselves, as the Darkling Lords and Spectral Knights disagree over how to approach their new situation. Spectral Knight leader Leoric advocates co-operation with the Cybetronians, but Darkling Lord leader Virulina dismisses their sentience entirely and recommends taking the planet by force. Virulina and Leoric leave to meet the Cybertronian delegation and are bemused to be met with the universal greeting offered by Kup. Outside the barrier, Wheeljack and his assistant Breakdown are delayed entering the city when Breakdown notices a mysterious glow from the ground. The glow attacks Breakdown, infecting and rapidly decaying his arm. Wheeljack quickly amputates the arm, which corrodes almost entirely. Back inside, the peace talks proceed, with Kup offering generous terms of resettlement that require only handing over Merklynn to be tried for war crimes. This is unacceptable to Virulina, who chafes at the idea of living by the leave of Cybertronians. The talks break, but Leoric takes the opportunity to apologise to Kup and assure him that he wants a peace that works. Meanwhile, Merklynn reflects on the spell he made to rid Prysmos of technology, bringing about the new Age of Magic, and how it inadvertently caused the destruction of Prysmos entirely. He still sees Cybertron as the perfect replacement planet for his people. Virulina has retired to the monastery headquarters of the Darkling Lords, where, under the gaze of a statue dedicated to their fallen leader Darkstorm, she and Cindarr consider the Cybertronians potential vulnerability to magic. At the same time, Wheeljack informs Ironhide and Kup that the energy that attacked Breakdown is being generated by the Talisman, which isn't being contained by the energy barrier as intended. The Talisman's effects are still spreading across Cybertron and the device itself is burrowing ever deeper into Cybertron, towards its core, Vector Sigma. Ironhide and Kup reconvene the peace talks with Leoric and Virulina to inform them of this. While Leoric is surprised, Virulina merely gloats, sparking a confrontation with Ironhide. She lunges to attack him, instead hitting Kup. The magic energies of her spear quickly infect and decay Kup, as Virulina declares her intent to conquer Cybertron. Characters In order of appearance Quotes To be added Notes Trivia * This is the first appearance of Visionaries in comics for about 30 years. Huzzah! * Although it's not actually stated (despite the obtusely sparse "previously" page at the front of the issue), this issue follows on from IDW's First Strike event, which was advertised as a GI Joe and Transformers event with no mention of the Visionaries. Handy that. * This mini series forms part of IDW's slapdash Hasbroverse, built on the back of their successful Transformers comics. * All of the Visionaries present have been vastly redesigned from their original appearances, including a more diverse racial make-up, hipster haircuts and very different armour designs. The traditional chest plates depicting the Visionaries' animal totems have been reduced in size and move to the pectoral area. * The only Visionary to appear in their original design, is Darkstorm, who is only present as a statue. * As well as new designs, many of the Visionaries have different personalities to previously. Leoric is rather less sure of himself, Virulina more dogmatic. Merklynn is presented as a former prince of some manner, instead of a reclusive magician. Lexor has no hint of his formerly defining cowardice while most stark of all, Cindarr is presented as a pipe-smoking intellectual rather than the kind-hearted simpleton best known from the animated series. While you might suspect this latter, stark change is due to some brewing plot point, it's simply because the writer, Visaggio, didn't like the character of the original Cindarr, so thought it'd be "funny" to completely invert it. Hilarious. * The word "Darkling" is used as though it has more significance than the simple slur it was in the original iterations of Visionaries, which is odd. * Original Darkling Lord leader, Darkstorm, previously died in unspecified circumstances * The Darkling Lords's headquarters is a monastery, though it's not made clear if this has always been their HQ or is simply the only place available to them. * Speaking of, it's not entirely clear how the Talisman is transforming Cybertron into New Prysmos. Is it simply terraforming the planet? Is it recreating Prysmos as it originally was? How did the Prysmosian population arrive on Cybertron with their recreated city? None of this is explained in this issue. * Despite being their first comics appearance in three decades and likely the first exposure most of the audience will have had to the concept, none of the Visionaries use their powers here (beyond Virulina's generic magic spear attack). * Dialogue suggests that the Visionaries were formed, by Merklynn, as one cohesive unit that later fractured into the two factions, rather than the original concept of magic being given to individuals who coalesced into two groups. * There's a special editorial note at the end of the issue discussing the death of Kup and with a two page tribute to his (IDW) life. Errors *Breakdown's name is misspelt on the cast page as Breakdowm. *In First Strike, the energy barrier around New Prysmos is implied to have been created to keep the Cybertronians out. Here, it is portrayed as a Cybertronian device to keep the Prysmosians in. That's a pretty fundamental story concept to get wrong. References Category:Fiction Category:Media Category:IDW Category:Comic Books